Wednesday, November 30, 2011

the chosen one(s)

No fewer than four of the major candidates for the Republican presidential nomination have declared that "God" told them to run. Perhaps we can quibble about what makes a "major" candidate, but Perry, Cain, Bachman, and Santorum have all made this pronouncement. Ok, Santorum is arguably more of an internet search term than a viable candidate, but he was a U.S. Senator. In a way, none of them are viable candidates. Bachman is Palin 2.0 and really only in it to sell her recently written memoir. Cain only attracted the spotlight with a tax plan reminiscent of a pizza deal and is now melting under that very same light with allegations of infidelity. And Perry, well, Perry doesn't need help imploding as he did that on his own during a recent debate. That these four are (or were?) even major candidates is deeply pathetic.

Well Republicans, I hope you really like Romney since your only semi-moderate hopefuls of Johnson and Huntsman are not gaining traction with the "base" voters.

Back to our divinely chosen candidates. Of course, if asked if they will win, none of them would ever declare that God told them they would win. Instead, they will bring out the standard trope of saying god told them to run, but not because they would win, but as a test of their faith. Perhaps there will be elaboration about God's will being beyond our mortal understanding. Regardless of how elaborate the explanation is, as an atheist, this smacks of serious mental health problems. If someone declared that the great Flying Spaghetti Monster in the sky had told them to do something, whether it was run for President or leave the noodles al dente, they would be called delusional for hearing imaginary voices in their head. But when someone invokes God, in this case a Christian God, it's a testament to their deep faith. This is why people need to see the world. Then they would understand (in my dreams) that their particular religion is more a consequence of geography than deep theological reasoning. Of course, people of faith, upon seeing other faiths up close and personal, typically double-down and reaffirm their faith since that's what it means to have faith, a belief in something that cannot be proven or meaningfully supported.